Sometimes controversial recording artist/songwriter/record producer/fashion designer/entrepreneur/Kim Kardashian's husband Kanye West is opening a temporary store location in Toronto today. Mr. West's 'Life of Pablo' fashion collection will be carried in the pop-up, which will be at the multi-purpose Rally event space at 12 Ossington Avenue, just north of ultra-hip West Queen Street West.

The store will open Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm. It's being run by thisopenspace, which works with leaseholders, landlords, and commercial real-estate brokers to rent out under-utilized space while managing short-term bookings.

Kanye West Tweeted earlier this week that he was opening 21 temporary store locations globally on Friday, August 19. No details were provided, other than a website with a map showing what cities would see his store locations. Besides Toronto, Kanye West's temporary Life of Pablo stores will open today in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Portland, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Cape Town, Singapore, Sydney and Melbourne. Each city will receive its own customized shirts with its name written in Cali Thornhill DeWitt’s gothic script.

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Kanye West

Photo: Kanye West

A similar New York City pop-up this spring reportedly saw sales in excess of $1 million.

Some of the international locations opening today are remarkably unusual. The Boston pop-up, for example, is at an urban Trader Joe's grocery store in the city's affluent Back Bay area. Other international locations are in galleries, event spaces and stores.

Pop-up retail is becoming big business, including in Canada. Hype surrounding some temporary store openings can be infectious, evidenced recently by Justin Beiber and Michael Jordan pop-ups in Toronto. The Michael Jordan location will become permanent when it re-opens this month, however. Companies such as Toronto-based pop-up go are facilitating companies and brokers seeking temporary spaces, and some retail experts see various benefits to pop-ups, as discussed in a recent Retail-Insider article on the topic.